What is sous vide and why should it be in every home?

Sous vide (or sous vide) is the cooking of food in water at a relatively low temperature, after first placing it in a plastic bag and pumping out the air. In other words, this is cooking in a vacuum. It has many useful properties, and it sounds more complicated than it actually is. This amazing technique will be discussed today.

Why is he so good?

Cooking is called art for a reason. Take, for example, roasting lamb. Under normal conditions, to get a juicy steak, you need to heat the meat so that the temperature in the central part remains in the range of 54-55°C. This is the only way to preserve the delicate texture and all the juices of the lamb. At the same time, while observing these conditions, you need to be able to dose spices and properly marinate foods. Otherwise, the meat simply will not be saturated with spices, “delighting” with a too bright taste of the outer part and a relatively bland middle.

Using sous vide, the chef does not have to deal with such nuances and always gets the predicted result. Just by removing the air from the bag, the cook instantly achieves the best penetration of spices. In addition, vacuuming helps preserve the food in the desired shape. Well, cooking with precise temperature control may take a little longer (from 40 minutes to several days), but it guarantees complete heat treatment throughout the entire thickness of the product.

In this case, there is no risk of “overcooking” vegetables or meat, leaving them to simmer only a little longer than the recipe calls for. The same lamb, which rarely takes more than 50 minutes to cook, can stay in a heated box for several hours without affecting the taste.

Important! Cooking temperatures in a vacuum are below 100°C, so sous vide is not suitable for cooking grains. For the same reason, to obtain an appetizing crust, you will need to additionally fry the food in a pan or grill.

How does it work?

Cooking in a vacuum consists of only two steps: packaging and cooking.

Vacuuming

The first stage involves the use of special heat-resistant plastic bags. After placing the ingredients in them, the air is pumped out by a special machine - a vacuum degasser. You can even buy one on AliExpress.

Cooking

For controlled cooking, immersion thermostats are used - devices with a heating element and a pump for circulating water. In essence, it’s a kind of evolution of boilers. This device can be installed in any container of a suitable size.

It is advisable to cover the container with foil, cling film or their equivalents during cooking. Also, to prevent evaporation, special balls can be used to cover the water in an even layer. But professional chefs prefer using a transparent box with a lid and stands for bags to all these tricks.

Benefits of sous vide

As I already mentioned, pumping out the air improves the permeation of the product with spices. At the same time, all the ingredients of the dish retain their beneficial properties! Still, most of the vitamins and minerals are not broken down during such heat treatment.

If you do not open the package with the finished dish, but send it for blast freezing, you can provide yourself with preparations for a long time. You can reheat them in the same sous vide. The products then retain the taste of just cooked.

Well, the last highlight: thanks to vacuum sealing and low-temperature cooking, fish and meat always turn out juicy. This means that you can even save a little! You can simply choose cheaper products that are somewhat dry. Sous vide will correct this deficiency.